


How Far We've Come

by sophia_sol



Series: Eagle whipping fic [1]
Category: The Eagle (2011)
Genre: Kink Negotiation, M/M, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-21
Updated: 2011-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophia_sol/pseuds/sophia_sol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want you to whip me,” Esca thinks about saying. He thinks this a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Far We've Come

**Author's Note:**

> A thousand thanks to Carmarthen, without whom this story would not exist, and whose insight and betaing were invaluable.

"I want you to whip me," Esca thinks about saying. He thinks this a lot.

He and Marcus spend a lot of time together; well, they always have. When he was Marcus' slave, when they were on that quest for Marcus' eagle and Marcus' honour, and now, too. They work the land together. They go hunting together. They eat together, sleep together, talk together, relax casually in the shade together.

The tree they are leaning against is a good big one, with plenty of shade, but they sit tucked up next to each other anyway, their sides pressing close. Esca is fiddling idly with a bit of grass, while Marcus is busy with a knife and a bit of wood, carving some sort of animal, it looks like. Maybe a horse.

Esca twists the grass around his fingers, and listens to the words run through his head again: "I want you to whip me."

It is something Esca has long known he enjoys, the sharp sting across his back -- the way it pulls him into himself, the way it sets him free. But he knows Marcus would not understand, and so his request remains unspoken, "I want you to whip me" repeating like a whisper across Esca's mind whenever Marcus is near, which is always.

Marcus is too caught up in his Romanness. This is Esca's problem. This is always Esca's problem. Marcus thinks "whipping" and understands it to mean "punishment," understands it to mean that the one being whipped is lessened by it. And Marcus believes so _thoroughly_ in the fact that Esca is his equal that Esca knows he would do nothing to jeopardize what he sees as Esca's honour.

Sometimes it would be such a relief if Marcus had a little less attachment to honour.

"I want you to whip me," Esca thinks again, but out loud he says offhandedly, "Have you ever whipped someone, Marcus?"

Marcus' blade stills on the wood, and his head tilts back, the line of his throat beautiful and vulnerable, and for a moment he does not speak. Esca waits.

"Yes," Marcus says eventually, still not moving. Esca methodically tears the blade of grass into progressively smaller pieces, and continues to wait.

"There was a time once. I had a commanding officer, and he -- there was a civilian who wouldn’t go away. He said he’d been underpaid, and just wouldn’t leave, and eventually I was ordered to whip him. I couldn’t disobey," Marcus says, and Esca nods.

He plucks another blade of grass and begins to tie careful knots into it. "What was it like, whipping someone?" he asks, not looking at Marcus.

Marcus drops his head and sighs. "I didn't enjoy it, if that's what you're asking," he says, looking at his half-carved animal. He turns it over in his hand thoughtfully, and resumes whittling.

That wasn’t quite what Esca was asking, but if that’s where Marcus is going with it, then it absolutely is what he’s asking now. Esca knows better than to believe what Marcus is actually saying -- he can be so wrong-headed sometimes. "Why not?" he says, and now Marcus actually puts down his knife and wood, and looks at Esca, incredulous.

"Why not?" he says, disbelief evident in his tone. He sounds almost insulted. "Why not? Esca, that man did not deserve the punishment. I was hurting an innocent man! It's not -- that's not honourable."

"You hurt innocent men when you spar with them," Esca points out, looking guilelessly back at Marcus.

"Yes, but that's different. They _want_ to spar."

Aha, Esca thinks. Now I've got you. "So you enjoy doing that?"

Marcus glances away. "Well...yes. It's satisfying."

"And if a man wanted you to whip him. Would that also be satisfying?"

"I..." Marcus says, and then he stops. "What are you after here, Esca?" he says, slow and quiet. "What do you want me to say?"

Maybe he's pushing too fast. "I was just curious," Esca says hurriedly. "I'm not after anything in particular."

But Marcus is not a stupid man, even if he does act it sometimes, and he just gives Esca a _look_ , one that says, I know you're lying and you know you're lying so let’s move on.

Esca twirls the knotted grass in his fingers, breathes deep, and says, "And if I wanted you to whip me. What then?"

"Esca," Marcus says, shocked and wary.

"Be quiet, Marcus," Esca says. "I like it, all right? It's...satisfying."

"Oh." Marcus' voice is small, and Esca can't read the emotion behind it. But then he continues. "I don't understand. Esca. Why would you want that?" And he sounds unsure but still trusting, and all right. All right. Esca can deal with this.

"It feels good," Esca begins, not knowing where he's going to go next but knowing he has to try. "It feels...it's not about the pain. Not really. But the feel of it, it feels _good_. Like I'm...somewhere else, only not really, because the somewhere else is in my own head and I just feel so _alive_. And real. And free."

"Oh," Marcus says again, and this time Esca can read the nuances in that small exhalation, knows that Marcus is really thinking about what Esca said.

"So?" Esca says after a while, testing.

Marcus shifts a little, ending up pressed closer to Esca, and Esca relaxes into the touch. Marcus says, "I think I...understand. A bit. I don't understand the whipping, but -- that feeling. Yes. I see why you would want that." He trails off, looking a little lost.

"So?" Esca prompts again.

"So...yes. Yes, I would find whipping you -- satisfying. Yes."

And a hint of that feeling of freedom is creeping on Esca already, as his mouth splits into a joyous grin, and he finally, finally, says it aloud: "Marcus, I want you to whip me."


End file.
